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Showing posts from 2015

Peace I leave you

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At the 12-Step/Recovery Eucharist (which takes place every week on Tuesdays at 5.15pm at our Cathedral (Christ Church Cathedral) on Quadra Street in Victoria) a few days ago I had the opportunity to preside and share a few thoughts on a passage I rarely get to preach on, except at funerals!  These words of Jesus from John 14 "Peace I leave you..." It had a particular context, that of the healing and recovery that comes through the 12-Step program.  The service is not just for those recovering from addictions but is a peaceful and health-ful shared space for prayer and the recognition of the need we all share for that deepest healing from those things which we do that take us away from well-being and wholeness.  It's a shorter meditation/talk than I would normally do for a 'sermon' so rather than putting it on New Kid Deep Stuff, I thought I would post it here. Tuesday of Easter 5 – 12 Step thoughts John 14.27-31 Peace Peace, I don’t leave you the

Just in case you're wondering where I am

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Happy Easter! Alleluia - Christ is risen! In case I've not mentioned it before - sometimes when this blog is quiet (tumbleweed style) I am also blogging on our Church website.  There is a staff blog there which I try to contribute to as I am able. Two particular postings I'd like to point you towards rather than rehashing them here are the Good Friday meditations which I led - which used poetry and prayers based around the Seven Last Words of Christ from the cross - and some Easter Sunday thinkings which went hand in hand with my Easter Day sermon . I am at present trying to enjoy some downtime. This may mean I get to blog, or it might not. Thanks for the follows and the comments and the responses, always appreciated.

Defined by the Eucharist?

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Some reflections inspired by something our Bishop, Logan, shared this Morning at our Chrism Eucharist.  He shared a lot more than this, including a moving account of his experience at the demolition ceremonies around St Michael's Residential School (read the record of +Logan's apology at the ceremony here ) and the place of ritual in healing and calling to a new way of being. Anyway, here's my Maundy Thursday thinkings - or at least a taster, full sermon on New Kid Deep Stuff  Defined by the Eucharist - a Maundy Thursday Sermon Last year I began the sermon for Maundy Thursday (yes, I check these things, just to make sure don’t repeat myself too much) with the words “At the blessing of the oils service this morning in the Cathedral, Bishop Logan reminded us….” And though I don’t like to repeat myself, I want to start my thoughts this evening with these words “At the blessing of the oils service this morning in our Cathedral, Bishop Logan reminded us… “ that this m

A Thought for the Middle of Holy Week

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Today, the Wednesday of Holy Week is, in my schedule, a bit of an odd day.  It is the 'calm before the storm' of the Triduum and the explosion of joy that is Easter.  We have a simple Eucharist at 7.45am every Wednesday with a thought suitable to the day, and although we have a Holy Wednesday service in the evening, we have kept to our usual Wednesday pattern. So here is my thinking for this Morning's service. For those of us of a professional religious bent, we like to have answers.  They might not be the best answer, they might not be the right answer (if I’m honest) but we like to have an answer.  Sometimes they seem a little bit too much like stock answers, the autopilot of ministry – and if we don’t really have any answer to give we end up with the wonderful ‘well, it’s a mystery’.  Not really an answer at all.  Which is why I take Holy Week so very seriously.  It’s a week that doesn’t allow us to give answers – not really, not if we really enter into it, not

The Presentation of Christ - so get out of the Temple, or more accurately "Depart in peace!"

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Again with the sermon! Yep, for a little while I will be posting the sermons I preach here at the blog... the podcast is not being updated quite yet!  Besides, posting here gives more space for comment and conversation, should you so wish. Today's sermon was inspired by some conversations had recently at the Clergy Day for the Diocese of British Columbia , by an excellent presentation by the Rev'd Canon Dr Richard LeSueur , by looking again at the Vision for our Diocese , and by looking back at an earlier (excellent) sermon by colleague Rev'd Canon Kevin Arndt and my own sermon from a year ago ! So here's the taster, as usual click [more] to get the full text! Malachi 3:1–4 Hebrews 2:14–18 Luke 2:22–40 The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (2015) Year B RCL Principal This last Thursday we had a Clergy Day, one of our twice a year opportunities to meet up with colleagues from all the Islands of this Diocese, and to have some input and c

Conversion...

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Today's sermon had a lot of reaction, and because our usual podcaster is out of commission for a while I thought it might be helpful to post it on the New Kid Deep Stuff blog - so here's a taster, and you might want to go off and visit following the link at the end of this bit :-) Comments, as always, welcome - join the conversation here or at the original post.. . Readings The Conversion of St Paul (2015) Year B RCL Principal To Be Converted, or continued, or both… Today is, as you may have guessed, the festival of the Conversion of St Paul.  So I am going to begin by asking - as one should to an Anglican audience - "how many of you have been converted…?!??!" No, not really. I could tell you my conversion story, though… imagine a tubby little boy who looks just like me but without a beard, oh and mousey browny-blond hair.  This little lad is in a small chapel tent in a field of tents in a place called Polzeath (or Polzeth as many call it) and he’s chatti